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The Brinklee Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Brinklee Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$63k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$63k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$343kCommunity Improvement$140kEducation$90kPhilanthropy$50kInternational$40kArts & Culture$15kRecreation & Sports$5k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$63,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$812k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CUREBOUND$63,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY18–22, $155k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COMMUNITY CANCER FUND: $25k → 12%COMMUNITY CANCER FUND: $25k → 12%PEDAL THE CAUSE: $100k → 21%PEDAL THE CAUSE: $5k → 21%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
NY
OH
CT
CA
CO
MO
VA
AZ
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 33% of The Brinklee Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 50% of the giving stays in MO; by stated purpose, 29%.

The Brinklee Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$405k · 7 repeat orgs$278k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
9

Total granted

$405k
$215k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+32%

Still filing today

71%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $63k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
EducationInternationalArts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PT
    PEDAL THE CAUSE
    2× · 2018–2019 · $105k · revenue +18%
  • IP
    INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVES
    2× · 2017–2019 · $35k · revenue +9%
  • SL
    ST LOUIS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION
    2× · 2017–2018 · $5k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +10%
  • ED
    EL DORADO FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +39%
  • AD
    ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $50k · revenue +32%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
University of Illinois Foundation

The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is an independent and separate nonprofit entity from the University of Illinois. Our mission is to encourage and administer private gifts and serve the UI System by working closely with…

Education
2
Gastro Intestinal Research Foundation Inc

The GI Research Foundation works to treat, prevent, and cure digestive diseases. In collaboration with the physicians and scientists at the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Center, we fund innovative clinical and laboratory…

Health
3
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
4
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

The parker institute for cancer immunotherapy's (pici) mission is to accelerate the development of breakthrough immune therapies to turn all cancers into curable diseases.

Health
5
University of Iowa Facilities Corporation

The university of iowa facilities corporation acquires and holds property for the benefit and use of the university of iowa.

—
6
American Society of Clinical Oncology Inc

See schedule o:asco is a professional oncology society committed to conquering cancer through research, education, and promotion of the highest quality patient care.

Health
7
Arc Research Institute

Our mission is to accelerate scientific progress, understand the root causes of disease, and narrow the gap between discoveries and impact on patients.

Health
8
Asco Association

Asco association promotes the common business interests of its members by: (1) advocating for policies that improve the quality of cancer care; (2) maintaining the highest standards of oncology medical care through programs supporting…

Community Improvement
9
Chicago Blend Group Inc

Creating a more inclusive venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Community Improvement
10
Aids Foundation of Chicago

The aids foundation of chicago mobilizes communities to create equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to hiv and related chronic disease.

Health
11
Dallas Citizens Council

To lead and serve in the moments that matter the most for the people of dallas.

—
12
Lungevity Foundation Inc

Lungevity's vision is a world where no one dies of lung cancer. lungevity foundation is firmly committed to making an immediate impact on increasing quality-of-life and survivorship of people with lung cancer by accelerating research into…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Forest Park Forever Inc; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 17 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Saint Louis Fashion Fund: $140,000 · EducationSaint Louis Fashion FundUNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $50,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF RICHMONDPEDAL THE CAUSE: $105,000 · Human ServicesPEDAL THE CAUSECOMMUNITY CANCER FUND: $50,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY CANCER FUNDCUREBOUND: $63,000 · HealthCUREBOUNDALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $50,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEAS…ST LOUIS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL: $50,000 · OtherST LOUIS CHILDRE…KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA: $20,000 · OtherKAPPA KAPPA GAMM…FORSYTH SCHOOL CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION: $20,000 · OtherFORSYTH SCHOOL C…Forest Park Forever Inc: $5,250 · OtherST LOUIS LIFE: $5,000 · OtherEL DORADO FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · PhilanthropyEL DORADO F…PINK AID INC: $20,000 · PhilanthropyPINK AID IN…INTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVES: $35,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC: $5,000 · InternationalJAZZ ST LOUIS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureST LOUIS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$190,000Human Services$155,000Health$113,000Other$100,250Philanthropy$70,000International$40,000Arts & Culture$15,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSaint Louis Fashion Fund: $140,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetPEDAL THE CAUSE: $105,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCUREBOUND: $63,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEL DORADO FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetCOMMUNITY CANCER FUND: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PEACE INITIATIVES: $35,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetPINK AID INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetJAZZ ST LOUIS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetForest Park Forever Inc: $5,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST LOUIS LIFE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetST LOUIS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

St Louis Community Fo…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
St Louis Community FoundationMO13.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Brinklee Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Brinklee Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Brinklee Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Brinklee Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 17 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Brinklee’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home